ROCKVILLE, Md., June 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CosmosID and The BioCollective today announced a new Comprehensive Microbiome Analysis Kit for in-depth, high-resolution identification and characterization of microorganisms found in the gut. This easy-to-use service will provide robust characterization of the gut microbiome, including presence of antibiotic resistance factors, based on next-generation shotgun sequencing.

Dr. Rita Colwell, founder of CosmosID, said, "We are very pleased to be partnering with The BioCollective on the White House National Microbiome Initiative to study microbiome associations with many diseases, such as Sickle Cell and Parkinson's, in a major microbiome research initiative. With this new comprehensive kit, researchers and individuals will be able to obtain a full understanding of their microbiomes from this high resolution analysis."

The term "microbiome" is used to describe the microscopic collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms living in, on, and around us. Most of these microorganisms are beneficial – for example, in our gut they help digest food, produce vitamins, and maintain homeostasis in the intestines. Other microbes, if present, however, may cause food poisoning, infection, or disease. To characterize the microbiome fully and provide detailed, strain-level resolution, and, in addition, obtain information needed to identify beneficial or detrimental microorganisms, deep sequencing of an entire sample is required.

Most microbiome kits offer bacterial analysis based on the DNA sequence of only one or a few genes (i.e. 16S ribosomal RNA), giving a lower-resolution characterization of the microbiome. Now, with The BioCollective's Comprehensive Microbiome Analysis Kit powered by CosmosID, the complete makeup of an individual microbiome can be explored, including species/strain level identification of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and also the characterization of antibiotic resistance and virulence factors. Such in-depth profiling is only possible with the type of service that CosmosID provides - deep sequencing of the entire sample along with accurate analysis employing a highly curated microbial database.

The growing field of microbiome research includes studies investigating the role of the microbiome on diet, exercise, lifestyle, birth method, antibiotic usage, and even complex conditions like autism, heart disease, and Alzheimer's. The combination of The BioCollective's sample banking and having those data available for comparison, with the analytic power provided by CosmosID, enables a major advance in microbiome research. The comprehensive microbiome kit will empower individuals to determine their own microbiomes and monitor improvement from dietary modification and/or exercise and other lifestyle changes.

Martha Carlin, CEO of The BioCollective said, "We are excited to partner with CosmosID in this expanded offering to accelerate research and discovery."

Other shotgun sequencing based microbiome kits are priced as high as $5,000. n comparison, The BioCollective's Comprehensive Microbiome Analysis Kit powered by CosmosID is available at the introductory price of $299 (standard price $499). The introductory price includes sample collection, storage, DNA preparation, sequencing, and metagenomic analysis. Additionally, members of The BioCollective will receive a percentage of revenue from microbiome sample sales to scientists for further studies and analysis.

About CosmosID CosmosID is a genomic big data company focused on rapid identification of microorganisms for infectious disease diagnostics, public health surveillance, food safety inspections, pharmaceutical discovery, and microbiome analysis for health and wellness.

About The BioCollective The BioCollective is a microbiome marketplace that aims to generate a collaborative, market-based approach to the challenge of accelerating research and discovering therapeutic avenues to managing and treating chronic diseases, cancer, and obesity.

Founded in 2015 by Chief Executive Revolutionary, Martha Carlin, after years of researching and managing her husband's Parkinson's disease, The BioCollective is based in Centennial, Colorado.